Exposed: How Houthi’s brutal treatment of African migrants in Yemen sparked deadly fire at immigration center

Displaced Yemenis rebuild a hut after a fire broke out in a shelter in the war-ravaged western Hodeida province, on February 16, 2021. (AFP/File)
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Updated 12 March 2021
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Exposed: How Houthi’s brutal treatment of African migrants in Yemen sparked deadly fire at immigration center

  • Rights group accuses Iran-backed militia of starting blaze that killed dozens in Sanaa
  • Yemenis outraged over migrants’ deaths, call for international investigation

DUBAI: Details have emerged of how a bungled attempt by Yemen’s Houthis to suppress protests at an overcrowded detention center led to dozens of African migrants perishing in a deadly blaze.

Anger has grown in Yemen and around the world after the blaze on Sunday in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa shone a spotlight on the Iran-backed militia’s “inhumane” treatment of refugees.

Graphic videos and images of burnt bodies have circulated on Twitter, with calls condemning the Houthi’s silence on the blaze.

The group has failed to provide an official death toll or revealed the number of injuries.

 

 

A senior figure in Sanaa’s Eritrean migrant community told AP at least 44 migrants were killed and that the death toll could be much higher.

Local reports suggested hundreds may have perished in the blaze at the facility housing 900 people. The fire took place in a hangar within the complex containing 350 refugees. 

The UN’s International Organization of Migration (IOM) said at least 170 were injured and an unknown number had died.

Many local reports – including that of Yemeni human rights group Mwatana – claimed the blaze was started by the Houthi militia.

Attempts to contact a Houthi spokesman were unsuccessful.

The fire took place days after migrants at the facility on Khawlan Street started a protest against mistreatment and poor conditions, according to Mwatana.

 

 

A migrant detained in the center said the Houthis were also extorting them by demanding a fee in exchange for their release.

Witnesses said Houthi guards attempted to end the protest on Sunday afternoon, and when migrants refused, they fired “projectiles” into the hangar, which sparked the blaze.

“We tried to escape but the ward doors were locked, and we were cramped inside,” a detainee told Mwatana. “I could hear the sound of explosions and the sounds of my friends groaning…but I could not help anyone.”

Mwatana said: “The horrific incident once again underscores how desperately international investigations and credible accountability are needed for Yemen.

“States should immediately take concrete steps to ensure criminal accountability and reparations for Yemen, including violations and abuses committed against migrants and refugees.”

 

 

Yemenis have expressed their anger on social media with many accounts using the hashtag “HouthisBurnBlackRefugees” along with “BlackLivesMatter” and posts calling for justice for those killed.

In a statement to Arab News, the IOM condemned the inhumane conditions at the detention centers in Sanaa.

“For years, IOM has strongly and publicly advocated against the use of migrant detention centers in Yemen and continues to call for all migrants to be released from detention, particularly those held in inhumane conditions,” the agency said.

“If the local authorities chose to detain migrants, the conditions must respect human dignity,” the statement added. “This was and is not the case in the immigration holding facility in Sanaa, as horrifically shown by the deadly impact of the fire.”

 

 

The Yemeni government, which was driven from Sanaa by the Houthis in 2014, have demanded an international inquiry into the blaze.

Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Aryani accused the militia of recruiting detained migrants to fight in the civil war.

“We strongly condemn the horrific crime committed in migrant detentions run by the terrorist Houthi militia in the seized capital, Sanaa, which led to the death and injury of hundreds of them,” he said.

The minister said the Houthis had attempted to cover up the massacre by burying victims in a mass grave. 

Yemen has long been the destination for millions of refugees from the horn of Africa attempting to seek refuge. 

Many have settled in Yemen for decades, and integrated into Yemeni society.

In 2020, movement restrictions and border closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic led to an extremely low rate of migrant arrivals in Yemen, according to the IOM. A total of 37,535 people arrived in Yemen last year, compared to an estimated 138,000 in 2019 with similar numbers arriving the year before.

UNHCR Representative for Yemen, Jean-Nicolas Beuze, told Arab News that although the IOM has been taking the lead in the response to the detention center fire, many other NGOs have joined forces to help those affected.

Aside from giving medical assistance, Beuze said that the UNHCR is providing mental health assistance to the African community in Sanaa.

“It has a huge psychological impact on the African community in Sanaa and Yemen on the whole,” he said with reference to the fire disaster.  


Strikes target Yemen’s Hodeidah, Houthi affiliated TV says, blaming Israel, US

Updated 5 sec ago
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Strikes target Yemen’s Hodeidah, Houthi affiliated TV says, blaming Israel, US

CAIRO: Six strikes targeted Yemen’s Hodeidah port, the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported on Monday, blaming the strikes on Israel and the United States, a day after the Iran-aligned group launched a missile that struck near Israel’s main airport.

Palestinians struggling to survive as Israel plans for Gaza's ‘conquest’

Updated 05 May 2025
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Palestinians struggling to survive as Israel plans for Gaza's ‘conquest’

  • For many of the Gaza Strip's residents, the most immediate threat to their lives remains the spectre of famine amid a months-long Israeli blockade
  • Israel’s new military roadmap changes little as it already controls most of Gaza, a resident says

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israel’s plan for the “conquest” of Gaza has sparked renewed fears, but for many of the Palestinian territory’s residents, the most immediate threat to their lives remains the spectre of famine amid a months-long Israeli blockade.
The plan to expand military operations, approved by Israel’s security cabinet overnight, includes holding territories in the besieged Gaza Strip and moving the population south “for their protection,” an Israeli official said.
But Gaza residents told AFP that they did not expect the new offensive would make any significant changes to the already dire humanitarian situation in the small coastal territory.
“Israel has not stopped the war, the killing, the bombing, the destruction, the siege, and the starvation — every day — so how can they talk about expanding military operations?” Awni Awad, 39, told AFP.

Awad, who lives in a tent in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis after being displaced by Israeli evacuation orders, said that his situation was already “catastrophic and tragic.”
“I call on the world to witness the famine that grows and spreads every day,” he said.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in late April said it had depleted all its foods stocks in Gaza due to Israel’s blockade on all supplies since March 2.

There is no food, no medicine, and no nutritional supplements. The markets are empty of food, and the government clinics and pharmacies have nothing

Umm Hashem Al-Saqqa, Gaza City resident

Aya Al-Skafy, a resident of Gaza City, told AFP her baby died because of malnutrition and medicine shortages last week.
“She was four months old and weighed 2.8 kilograms (6.2 pounds), which is very little. Medicine was not available,” she said.
“Due to severe malnutrition, she suffered from blood acidity, liver and kidney failure, and many other complications. Her hair and nails also fell out due to malnutrition.”
Umm Hashem Al-Saqqa, another Gaza City resident, fears her five-year-old son might face a similar fate, but is powerless to do anything about it.
“Hashem suffers from iron deficiency anaemia. He is constantly pale and lacks balance, and is unable to walk due to malnutrition,” she told AFP.
“There is no food, no medicine, and no nutritional supplements. The markets are empty of food, and the government clinics and pharmacies have nothing.”
New military roadmap
Gaza City resident Mohammed Al-Shawa, 65, said that Israel’s new military roadmap changes little as it already controls most of Gaza.
“The Israeli announcement about expanding military operations in Gaza is just talk for the media, because the entire Gaza Strip is occupied, and there is no safe area in Gaza,” he said.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 69 percent of Gaza has now been either incorporated into one of Israel’s buffer zones, or is subject to evacuation orders.

The reality is that Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza by bombing, shooting, or through starvation and denial of medical treatment

Mohammed Al-Shawa, Gaza City resident

That number rises to 100 percent in the southern governorate of Rafah, where over 230,000 people lived before the war but which has now been entirely declared a no-go zone.
“There is no food, no medicine, and the announcement of an aid distribution plan is just to distract the world and mislead global public opinion,” Shawa said, referring to reports of a new Israeli plan for humanitarian aid delivery that has yet to be implemented.
“The reality is that Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza by bombing, shooting, or through starvation and denial of medical treatment,” he said.
Israel says that its renewed bombardments and the blockade of Gaza are aimed at forcing Hamas to release hostages held in the territory.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich praised the new plan for Gaza on Monday and evoked a proposal previously floated by US President Donald Trump to displace the territory’s residents elsewhere.
The far-right firebrand said he would push for the plan’s completion, until “Hamas is defeated, Gaza is fully occupied, and Trump’s historical plan is implemented, with Gaza refugees resettled in other countries.”


Norwegian NGO decries Israel plan to take over Gaza aid

Palestinians queue for a portion of hot food distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip
Updated 05 May 2025
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Norwegian NGO decries Israel plan to take over Gaza aid

  • Egeland said the Israeli government wanted to “militarise, manipulate, politicize the aid by allowing only aid to a few concentration hubs in the south”

OSLO: An Israeli plan to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza at hubs controlled by the military is “fundamentally against humanitarian principles,” the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) told AFP on Monday.
Israel’s security cabinet said there was “currently enough food” in the territory which has been under full Israeli blockade since March 2, and approved overnight the “possibility of humanitarian distribution” in Gaza.
“We cannot and will not do something which is fundamentally against humanitarian principles,” Jan Egeland told AFP.
He said “the United Nations agencies, all other international humanitarian groups and NGOs have said no to be part of this idea coming from the Israeli cabinet and from the Israeli military.”
Israel has accused Hamas of diverting humanitarian aid — which Hamas denies — and said its blockade was necessary to pressure the militant group to release Israeli hostages.
Egeland said the Israeli government wanted to “militarise, manipulate, politicize the aid by allowing only aid to a few concentration hubs in the south, a scheme where people will be screened, where it’s a completely inoperable system.”
“That would force people to move to get aid, and it would continue the starvation of the civilian population,” he said, adding: “We will have no part in that.”
“If one side in a bitter armed conflict tries to control, manipulate, ration aid among the civilians on the other side, it is against everything we stand for,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the Israeli scheme “will mean large parts of Gaza, including the less mobile and most vulnerable people, will continue to go without supplies.”
International aid organizations as well as Palestinians in Gaza have for weeks warned of a dire humanitarian situation on the ground.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has said it has depleted its food stocks and that the 25 bakeries it supports in Gaza have closed due to a lack of flour and fuel.


Iraq’s justice minister says prisons are at double capacity as amnesty law takes effect

Iraqi Justice Minister Khaled Shwani speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, May 3.
Updated 05 May 2025
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Iraq’s justice minister says prisons are at double capacity as amnesty law takes effect

  • Justice Minister Khaled Shwani acknowledged the overcrowding has put a severe strain on prison health care and human rights standards

BAGHDAD: As a general amnesty law takes effect in Iraq, the country’s prisons are facing a crisis of overcrowding, housing more than double their intended capacity, the country’s justice minister said in an interview.
Justice Minister Khaled Shwani told The Associated Press on Saturday that Iraq’s 31 prisons currently hold approximately 65,000 inmates, despite the system being built to accommodate only half that number.
He acknowledged that the overcrowding has put a severe strain on prison health care and human rights standards.
“When we took office, overcrowding stood at 300 percent,” he said. “After two years of reform, we’ve reduced it to 200 percent. Our goal is to bring that down to 100 percent by next year in line with international standards.”
Thousands more detainees remain in the custody of security agencies but have not yet been transferred to the Ministry of Justice due to lack of prison capacity. Four new prisons are under construction, Shwani said, while three have been closed in recent years. Two others have been opened and six existing prisons expanded.
The general amnesty law passed in January had strong support from Sunni lawmakers who argue that their community has been disproportionately targeted by terrorism charges, with confessions sometimes extracted under torture.
But opponents say the law would allow the release of people involved in public corruption and embezzlement as well as militants who committed war crimes.
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, a watchdog group, said in a statement that “the current version of the general amnesty law raises deep concerns over its potential legal and security consequences.”’
Shwani said 2,118 prisoners have been released from the justice ministry’s prisons since the amnesty law took effect, while others had been released from the custody of security agencies before being transferred to the Ministry of Justice.
“We have a committee studying the status of inmates and identifying those who may qualify for release, but the vision is not yet final,” he said. The minister said he expects a “good number” to be released but “cannot specify an exact percentage until we receive clarity from the judiciary on who qualifies for the amnesty.”
Iraq’s prisons house hundreds of foreign nationals, most of them convicted of terrorism-related charges or affiliation with the Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
The inmates hail from countries including Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkiye, Egypt, North African nations, and several European states, as well as a handful of US citizens. Shwani said discussions are underway with several governments to repatriate their citizens, excluding those sentenced to death.
He said inmates have been repatriated under existing agreements with Iran, Turkiye, and the United Kingdom, including 127 Iranian inmates who were recently transferred back to Tehran.
An Iranian who was convicted in the 2022 killing of a US citizen in Baghdad remains in custody, however, Shwani said.
Stephen Edward Troell, 45, a native of Tennessee, was fatally shot in his car in November by assailants as he pulled up to the street where he lived in Baghdad’s central Karrada district with his family. Iranian citizen Mohammed Ali Ridha was convicted in the killing, along with four Iraqis, in what was described as a kidnapping gone wrong.
All executions have been halted following the issuance of the general amnesty law, Shwani said.
Iraq has faced criticism from human rights groups over its application of the death penalty and particularly over mass executions carried out without prior notice to lawyers or family members of the prisoners.
Shwani pushed back against the criticisms of prison conditions and of the executions.
“There are strict measures in place for any violations committed against inmates,” he said. “Many employees have been referred for investigation, dismissed, and prosecuted.”
He insisted that the “number of executions carried out is limited — not as high as reported in the media” and said the death penalty is only applied in “crimes that severely threaten national security and public safety,” including inmates convicted in a 2016 bombing attack in Baghdad’s Karrada district that killed hundreds of people, as well as cases of child rape and high-ranking Daesh leaders.
Executions have been paused to reassess cases under the new amnesty law, he said.


Israeli authorities destroy Palestinian homes in West Bank cities

Updated 05 May 2025
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Israeli authorities destroy Palestinian homes in West Bank cities

  • Israeli authorities demolish 25 structures that belonged to the Dababseh family in Khallet Al-Dabaa village
  • In Ramallah, forces raze a 150 sq. meter home that housed five people

LONDON: Israeli authorities demolished several Palestinian structures, including homes, in occupied West Bank cities on Monday.

Israeli forces demolished two homes in Al-Mughayyir village, north of Ramallah. They also destroyed a 200 sq. meter home in Al-Funduq, east of Qalqilya, for building without a permit. Additionally, several structures were demolished in the Jordan Valley.

Wafa reported that Israeli authorities demolished 25 structures that belonged to the Dababseh family in Khallet Al-Dabaa village, including homes, water wells, naturally formed caves, agricultural rooms, barns, and solar panels, after forcibly evicting residents.

In Ramallah, forces demolished a 150 sq. meter home that housed five people, while a demolition notice was issued for another house.

In the northern Jordan Valley, Israeli forces destroyed homes and livestock pens belonging to residents in Khirbet Al-Deir, while in Nabi Elias village, it raided several vehicle repair garages, the Wafa news agency reported.

The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, associated with the Palestinian Authority, reported that Israeli forces or settlers carried out 1,693 attacks on Palestinian towns, their properties, and lands in April.